The Silicon Valley Community Foundation has announced grants totaling $525,000 to seven housing and legal services organizations to help area homeowners and renters facing foreclosure.

Awarded to organizations that have bilingual counselors or legal advisors or the ability to help clients with limited English skills, the grants of $75,000 will help the recipient organizations cope with the increased demand for services caused by the ongoing housing crisis. Six of the organizations received funding from SVCF last year to improve their capacity to serve more clients and will use the new funds to keep the additional counselors and legal advisors they hired.

SVCF expects some nine hundred homeowners and renters in particularly hard hit areas within San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to receive services as a result of the grants. Between 20 percent and 50 percent of those individuals are expected to be able to work out a loan modification with their lender or avert foreclosure through other solutions.

"With unemployment still at record levels, the demand for foreclosure prevention services remains high," said SVCF president and CEO Emmett D. Carson. "Mortgages are continuing to re-set, and homeowners are still being victimized by brokers, lenders, and others who are engaging in illegal practices."